A MARTIN Lewis fan has bagged £4,800 back after a bank account error – and we explain how you can check if you are owed money.
The fan, called Julie, said she got the refund after discovering she was mis-sold a package bank account.
Packaged bank accounts come with extras like insurance and perks like better savings rates – for a fee, usually paid monthly.
But there have been cases where these types of accounts were sold to people when they weren't suitable for their needs.
Julie said that she had tried to cancel her packaged bank account in 2010 – but was wrongly told she couldn’t.
Using Money Saving Expert's guide, she wrote a complaints letter and received a refund of £4,786 just 18 days later.
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Like PPI, these packaged accounts can be mis-sold, which means that people were not properly told by the bank what they were getting and paying for.
It could be that you were paying a fee without knowing, or you couldn't actually use the insurance that came with the account.
"I tried to cancel my account in 2010 but was told 'it wasn't possible' by the bank,” Julie told MoneySavingExpert.
"Then reading your article I realised that this just wasn't true.
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"I followed your advice and used the template letter. 18 days later, I got a refund of £4,786."
How can I make a claim for mis-sold packaged bank accounts?
If you think you've been mis-sold a packaged bank account, you'll need to get in touch with the bank you had the account with to make a claim.
There are free tools available online, such as this one by MoneySavingExpert, so make sure you don't pay a claims firm to help you.
If the bank rejects your claim, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman for free.
But it won't look at your complaint until you've contacted your bank first and given it eight weeks to respond.
How much can I get back if I was mis-sold a packaged bank account?
If you were mis-sold and your claim is succesful, you should get the monthly fees you paid back plus interest.
How much you get will depend on how long you had the account and how much you paid for it.
A viewer of the The Martin Lewis Money Show previously said they managed to get a £1,400 payout from NatWest after paying for a packaged account for 10 years.
If you've got a useless packaged account, you can cancel it first to stop paying the monthly fees and then reclaim the cash later.
You could also be owed cash if you are on the wrong tax code – Martin has warned workers to check their codes as a big hike to National Insurance rolls out.
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Meanwhile, other Martin Lewis fans have shared their tips for saving cash amid a cost of living crisis – including one which revealed how you can cook family meals for as little as 23p.
Plus, MoneySavingExpert has urged households to check if they are eligible to get £150 free cash for their energy bills.
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